Three divers lost their lives in British waters over Easter, in separate incidents off Dorset, the Isle of Man and West Scotland.

Britain's Coastguard reported that on Easter Saturday, in West Scotland's Sound of Mull, Oban Lifeboat tended a diver who surfaced unconscious after diving with three others from a local charter vessel.

The Coastguard said that the man, in his 50s, was an experienced diver who descended without problem to 50m but, during ascent, was lost by his buddy at a depth of about 30m. The incident is being investigated by Strathclyde Police.

On Easter Day, off Portland in Dorset, the crew of a dive boat put out an emergency call after a member of a four-strong diving group stopped breathing on resurfacing.

The diver, reported by the BBC to be a man aged 52, from Hertfordshire, was airlifted from a position east of Portland Harbour to Dorset County Hospital, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.

Also on Easter Day, a diver died after getting into difficulties off the Isle of Man. According to Isle of Man Today newspaper the diver, a man aged 41, was in a party of ten aboard an Anglesey-based charter boat.

The Coastguard was informed of the emergency two miles off Port Erin, and that the casualty was being brought ashore aboard the dive boat. He was pronounced dead on arrival in Port Erin.

In the USA, off Palm Beach, Florida, two divers perished on Easter Day after one got into difficulties and the other went to his aid.

According to local press reports, when one of the divers, a 37-year-old man, got into difficulties his buddy, a 35-year-old woman, surfaced to alert their cover boat before descending again.

The pair did not re-emerge, and their bodies were found by a Boynton Beach dive master, descending from another dive boat. He reported finding the divers' bodies together in about 15m of water, entangled in their SMB line. Their air cylinders were "still full of air".